Digital Strategy for Schools

APPENDICES
7. How would you like digital content presented to you?
8. How technology might be used effectively to collaborate with other students within the school
and beyond?
9. Can students be trusted to use technology in the classroom responsibly?
10. How might technology be used to assess your learning?
The participants were very enthusiastic and provided insights into how they are using technology
themselves and how they could see technology being used to enhance their own learning experiences.
Feedback from both the student consultations and the EXCITED conference has been taken into
account when compiling this Strategy.
Consultation with Parents/Guardians
A number of focus groups with parents/guardians of primary and post primary students took place
across the country. The main points to emerge from these sessions were:
• All respondents had access to the internet at home.
• Parents/guardians defined their overall ICT competence as good.
• Most parents/guardians indicated that their children carry out research for school projects
using ICT with the majority of parents/guardians indicating that their children do this without
assistance from their parents.
• When asked if they were aware of how ICT was used in daily teaching activities, most parents/
guardians were aware of the type of ICT equipment used in the classroom rather than having
knowledge on how it was used.
• When asked about what they saw as the role of ICT in teaching and learning, the majority felt
that since ICT is part of all aspects of life, it should also be part of school life.
• Parents/guardians felt there was lack of communication between school and parents/guardians
on use of ICT in the classroom.
Other issues raised by parents/guardians included:
• Availability of funding for the strategy.
• The need for a device for each student.
• Maintenance of hardware.
Stakeholder Consultation
In the course of the consultation, the ICT Policy Unit also consulted with representatives from the
following organisations:
• The Teaching Council
• Initial Teacher Education Providers
• Department of Education and Skills Support Services
• The Inspectorate
• ATECI (Education Centres)
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